DEFEND THE FLOCK 

Navigating Avian Influenza: Your Questions Answered

February 28, 2023 

Today I am joined by Dr. Patricia Fox, National Epidemiology Officer for the Poultry Health Team at 

USDA APHIS. 

Moderator (Susan Cohen) >> Dr. Fox leads the preparedness, surveillance, and response activities for 

the U.S. Avian Influenza program and is also an instructor of epidemiology training workshops for 

veterinary professionals in the surveillance and control of avian influenza around the globe. Thank you 

for joining us today, Dr. Fox. 

Dr. Fox >> Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. 

Moderator >> I'm also pleased to introduce Dr. Maggie Baldwin, state Veterinarian and Director of the 

Animal Health Division at the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Dr. Baldwin is responsible for 

animal health and disease control activities and formerly served as a veterinary medical officer with 

USDA APHIS during the 2014-2016 HPAI outbreak. Dr. Baldwin thank you for being here with us today. 

Dr. Baldwin >> Thanks so much Susan. Happy to be here. 

Moderator >> A few housekeeping items to share before we start... Real time streaming captions are 

available for this program. To view, click on the CC in the bar at the bottom of the screen OR for 

customizable captions, type the Caption URL that you see on this slide – bit.ly/APHIS in all caps, Web 

with a capital W, underscore Feb, with a capital F, then 2-8 underscore capital CC-- into your browser. 

The URL appears on every slide and please note that the letters are case sensitive. To submit 

questions, click the Q&A button located at the bottom of your screen as shown here. We will address 

as many questions as possible during today’s session. However, if you submitted a question that was 

not answered, don’t worry. Written responses will be posted -- along with a recording of this 

webinar -- on the Defend the Flock website. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out 

when the responses and recording are available. We’ll share those online destinations at the end of the 

webinar. Dr. Fox can you start us off by describing what highly pathogenic avian influenza is? 

Dr. Fox >> Sure. There are four types of influenza or flu viruses, A, B, C and D. Each species has their 

own influenza viruses. For avian influenza viruses, gulls, shore birds and waterfowl such as ducks, 

geese, and swans are considered reservoirs or hosts for avian flu. Bird flu is the disease that's caused 

by these avian influenza viruses, they spread around aquatic birds worldwide and can infect other bird 

species. It's generally uncommon to infect other animal species and persons. And low pathogenic avian 

flu and high pathogenic avian influenza refer to the characteristic of the virus and the ability to cause 

disease and death in chickens in a laboratory setting. Most avian flu types cause little, or no signs of 

illness or domestic wild birds pose no threat to human health these subtypes are found every year in 

waterfowl. The sub type responsible for the outbreak that began in 2021 is highly pathogenic causing 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

significant illness and death in poultry so it is of heightened concern. Next, we'll briefly discuss the 

current status of the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in the U.S. 

As of February 26, 2023, APHIS has confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza in 47 states. This 

affects 774 premises and over 58 million birds. These premises included 418 commercial flocks and 356 

backyard or pet bird flocks. Next we'll go through some frequently asked questions about highly 

pathogenic avian influenza. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

Dr. Baldwin, what animals carry highly pathogenic avian influenza and how does it spread? 

Dr. Baldwin >> Great question, Susan. Dr. Fox touched on this when talking about what highly 

pathogenic avian influenza is, but primarily host species for HPAI is wild birds that's what we think of 

typically as waterfowl and shorebird species, things like our geese and ducks are the primary reservoir 

species for this virus that we're seeing right now. We're also seeing it in some other wild bird species 

that we hadn't seen in previous outbreaks. Our raptors and birds of prey, things like owls, hawks, and 

eagles. USDA is tracking the different species that have been infected with avian flu on their website, 

the website is called 2022-2023 detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza and it lists all the 

species and birds that have been affected in this outbreak. These infected birds are primarily shedding 

the virus in their droppings and in their respiratory droplets, in their saliva. So, their bodily discharges 

and feathers from infected birds. 

So these birds are carrying a lot of virus and they're shedding a lot of viruses as they fly and as they 

move around. So people that come in contact with wild birds that may be affected or infected by this 

virus can also act as a vector for that virus even though people may not become infected or sick with 

the virus we can carry the virus just like we carry other germs on our body and on our shoes, on our 

clothing, or if we're using equipment, if there's equipment that comes in contact with sick birds that 

are affected by the virus that equipment can also carry the virus and potentially spread it to other 

birds, whether that be other wild birds or our domestic poultry as well. 

Moderator >> Thank you Dr. Baldwin 

Dr. Fox, what are the signs and symptoms of HPAI that flock keepers should watch out for? 

Dr. Fox >> Well, whereas low pathogenic avian influenza in poultry shows no symptoms often the first 

appearance is sudden death of the birds more subtle signs may include diarrhea, lack of energy or 

decreased food or water consumption. You might notice some misshapen eggs or eggs with very soft 

shells. You might have some flu like symptoms including nasal discharge, coughing, sneezing or snicking 

as we call it. More obvious signs will be swelling of the head and eyelids, swelling of the cones, wattles 

or legs, and sometimes you might see purple discoloration of the wattles combs or legs. The birds may 

be very uncoordinated or may just sit in one place and not move, not even to get food or water. You 

might also see a very strange curling of the neck as in the lowest picture. That's called torticollis and is 

one of the signs that's almost pathognomonic for avian influenza or another disease that we look out 

for called Newcastle disease. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

Dr. Baldwin what can bird owners do to decrease the risk of HPAI infecting their flocks? 

Dr. Baldwin >> Great question, Susan. I think this is one of the most important things for all of the 

webinar participants to know is how can you keep your birds safe and how can you keep your birds 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

healthy. So, the most important thing, of course, with this virus being carried and shed and spread by 

wild birds is really keeping that separation between your domestic poultry and wild birds. So keeping 

those wild birds away from your food sources, your water sources, making sure that you have 

coverings to prevent them from getting access to your flock at home. And all of these tips, what’s really 

important to remember is that this is really going to be site specific or premise specific. There's not 

really a one-size-fits-all for bio security. And that's the importance in the Defend the Flock you can walk 

through that program and get all those tools and tips and tricks on how to apply bio security practices 

to your premises, to your farm and your home, and your barn, to keep your flock safe. So some of that 

might be keeping your birds indoors during those periods of migration, when we're concerned that 

we're going to have more wild birds. 

And keeping them confined a little bit more to reduce that risk of interaction with wild birds. Of course, 

keeping your feed enclosed and away from contamination, from wild birds, if those wild birds are 

shedding that virus again in their saliva, in their feces, if they have access to your feed bins and access 

to your water sources they can shed that virus into feed and water and easily transmit that virus to 

your domestic poultry flock. So really important to keep your feed spills cleaned up and keep your 

water sources covered to keep those wildlife and wild birds out of there. National Poultry 

Improvement Plan is another really important national program that there's a lot of diagnostic testing 

that happens and there's birds and flocks that are HPAI-free. There's birds and flocks that they are 

routinely doing testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza. So if you're buying birds make sure you're 

buying from NPIP participating flocks is going to be really important. Next slide. 

And then of course we, as we already mentioned, we need to be very cognizant of all of the different 

ways that the virus could spread in and around a farm as well. So if we are using equipment, if we are 

using tools, making sure that you're using separate equipment that may not be contaminated from one 

area to another. So if you're handling manure with shovel and rakes you don't want to handle your 

feed with the same shovels and rakes and any tools you're using is clean and disinfected not shared 

between flocks or premises but really keep them site-specific and premises-specific. The other 

important thing is that as we walk around our farms, as we walk around our environments and our 

home areas, is making sure that you're not wearing those same shoes into where your flock is kept, 

whether that be in your yard or your barn or another confined space. But it's very easy for the virus to 

be tracked and carried on your shoes have a dedicated pair of shoes or boots or covers to put over 

your shoes so you're not tracking any virus into your flock area with potential contamination on your 

shoes. And as always a good practice is just washing your hands for any sort of germ prevention, just 

like it is for people, washing your hands and making sure that you're not carrying any virus or any sort 

of germs on your hands into your flock. Another really important thing is we'd encourage everybody to 

right now maintain a closed flock by not introducing new birds because new birds can be a source of 

infection. If you do get new birds, or if you do take your birds to a different area and commingle with 

others and then return home, it's really important to isolate any new birds coming on to your farm or 

coming into your flock, isolate those separately for up to 30 days before you introduce them to your 

flock. And that gives you enough time to make sure that those birds are not harboring any virus, that 

they're not sick, and hopefully they don't pose a potential risk for infection to your flock. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Baldwin. 

Dr. Fox, are humans at risk of getting HPAI and are there food safety concerns that we should be 

aware of? 

Dr. Fox >> Well, fortunately, according to the CDC, the risk to humans from this particular virus is very 

low. You might have heard of human cases of avian influenza or bird flu in Asia. This is a different strain 

called H1N1 never found in the U.S. for some time. So far we're lucky this virus is not affecting humans 

and you can't get avian influenza by eating properly cooked eggs or poultry or handling poultry 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

products however there are some other diseases we need to be worried about such as salmonella 

handling raw poultry products. You want to make sure you handle those carefully, cook them properly 

and clean and disinfect the kitchen area where they're prepared to protect your family from other 

things we might be worried about, though, in this case not highly pathogenic avian influenza. 

So highly pathogenic avian influenza affects poultry, not people. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

And finally, Dr. Baldwin, a question that we know that so many people want to understand, as flock 

keepers, what can or should you do if you're concerned if your flock is infected? 

Dr. Baldwin >> Thank you, Susan, for that question. It's an important question. The next important 

next to practicing bio security if you suspect your flock is sick or has avian influenza, it's really 

important to report those to the state or to USDA. And we work together, all of the time. 

If you report it to one, the other is also going to be in touch. So it's important because highly 

pathogenic avian influenza is a foreign animal disease. And there are appropriate steps that we have to 

take in lab testing. So we dispatch what we call a foreign an animal disease diagnostician, federally 

trained veterans that know how to collect the right samples for diagnostic testing for avian influenza 

they'll go out and collect the samples. It's important that's reported promptly so we can get the 

veterinarians out to your homes or farms and collect the samples and rule in or out avian influenza. 

There's a lot of other diseases that poultry get and some of it can look very similar to avian influenza. 

It's really important that we rule that out or rule that in depending on the different clinical science that 

we might be seeing. So by doing that, you can contact your veterinarian. If you have a veterinarian 

you're working with, you can contact that veterinarian and they will be in touch with us and make sure 

that we follow, like I said, those appropriate sampling protocols for avian influenza testing. You can 

contact your local cooperative extension office. Those folks know how to get in touch with us and walk 

through that same process, and then depending on which state you live in, you may have a board of 

animal health in your state or you may have a state veterinarian's office. There's a lot of different 

names and a lot of different things that they're called, but we all do essentially the same thing. We're 

responsible for animal health and disease control activities in our state. So in my state, in Colorado, I'm 

the state veterinarian at the Colorado Department of Agriculture. So, we're in the Department of 

Agriculture. But some may be a board of animal health. Just know in your state who is the most 

appropriate party to call. And then, of course, if you still aren't sure, you can always call the USDA 

number. The USDA number will route to the right state and make sure that we have the right people 

doing the follow-up in those states. That number is 866-536-7539. Again, that USDA number is 

866-536-7539. Thanks, Susan. 

Moderator >> Thank you Dr. Baldwin and thank you Dr. Fox, we really appreciate you sharing these 

insights. I know this is valuable information for everyone who owns or cares for birds. Now we want to 

hear from you who are participating in this session today. Again, to submit questions, click the Q&A 

button located at the bottom of your screen and remember, if we don’t get to your question live 

today, we will be collecting all of the questions from today’s session and posting answers -- along with 

a recording of this webinar -- on the Defend the Flock website at a later date. 

Thank you for all the questions that have been coming in. 

We've been seeing a bunch of questions Dr. Fox about whether USDA has guidance for growers and 

backyard flock owners about what types of protective actions can be taken when there are other 

animals, could be swine, could be other livestock or even other birds, even songbirds on the premises, 

what can be done to protect against the spread? 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Fox >> Thanks for that. That's getting back to what we were talking about with biosecurity and 

protecting your animals from the viruses. Having other species should not be an issue, like swine. 

And we have seen that many bird species, in this particular outbreak, are not only carrying the virus 

but ill with the virus. One of the things we want to do is to exclude any other birds from our structures 

to the extent possible. So we really need to try to keep those songbirds, starlings, things like that, away 

from our flocks, away from our barns, certainly not nesting in the eaves, covering those areas with wire 

or some way to keep them out. What we want to do is keep out any wild birds that may have the 

opportunity to get in and spread this disease via their feces. So that's a really good question. 

That's the best thing we can do is to exclude any other birds from the premises. I know some backyard 

flock owners also have ducks. And ducks are one of the species that don't necessarily get sick from the 

highly pathogenic avian flu but they can spread it to others. They like to go out to the pond where you 

have wild ducks. When we've got this active outbreak going on it's really recommended that is not 

allowed. So as much as that might feel like it's restricting those animals and not -- a flock of duck and 

chickens you want to keep those ducks away from the other birds. Really, it's all about bio security and 

excluding birds from your flocks. Thank you. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

Dr. Baldwin we're seeing a lot of questions from people who are saying that usually this time of year 

is when they get their meat birds from a hatchery. Is it safe to bring those birds into the coop or 

house and some are asking should they get new birds at all? 

Dr. Baldwin >> Great question. This is one we're getting ahead of show and fair season as well. So I 

think one of the important things is, like I mentioned during that, how do we prevent this spread, is to 

really try to maintain a closed flock if you can. And that might be that you can introduce birds at some 

point in time, but after that isolation period. So one thing is going to be buying from the National 

Poultry Improvement Plan. NPIP participating flocks that are testing for avian influenza. So you know 

that flock has routine surveillance and hopefully the risk of them bringing avian influenza to your flock. 

And if you do acquire new birds bring them home is isolating the birds for up to a month and keeping 

them away from the rest of your flock before you introduce them. Again, the goal in that isolation 

period is to give you enough time to make sure those birds are not sick and those birds do not have 

avian influenza. And don't bring that into your flock. So, there are some ways to reduce the risk. But 

the most important thing, if you do bring birds in, is again NPIP flocks and isolating otherwise we do 

recommend maintaining closed flocks. 

Moderator >> Thanks, Dr. Baldwin. 

There's a follow-up question that I think might be worth exploring at this time. 

What qualifies as an outbreak and how do you know when it's okay to let your birds back out? 

Dr. Baldwin >> That is an excellent question, too, because we are in this ongoing outbreak situation. 

We're now a year into this with highly pathogenic avian influenza. And what we are seeing is that it 

does tend to increase during certain times of the year and then we see fewer cases in other times of 

the year. But the risk is always pretty present. We're seeing avian influenza really anywhere we see 

wild birds. We're not testing every wild bird. It's really important to assume, if you have a reservoir, a 

wild bird is in your area even if you have those species that we don't typically think of as reservoir 

species, it's important just to accept that there's probably avian influenza circulating. And one thing we 

do acknowledge it's really challenging for bird health to keep them indoors all the time. Especially 

those that are not used to being housed indoors all the time. It gets really challenging. This is 

something we've walked through with a lot of our zoo facilities and those that have specialty bird 

collections, is how do we maintain that balance of keeping the birds safe and healthy but also 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

maintaining their mental health and being able to exhibit their normal behaviors? So I think it's just 

really important to look at what you can do for your flock and it may not be that you maintain them 

inside the coop or inside a barn all the time but maybe you do but they're not for certain periods of the 

day under a covered run. So they're still not going to be exposed to those wild birds that may be 

shedding droppings over the area. But there is a balance that we have to reach because we're in this 

prolonged outbreak period. And it's really hard to tell whether the risk is greater or when the risk is 

less, because the wild birds really are everywhere. And we're seeing this in so many different wild bird 

species that we haven't seen before. So I hope that answers that question, Susan. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Baldwin, we'll give you a break and direct the next question to Dr. Fox. 

Can you help us understand, Dr. Fox, why is this outbreak worse than in 2015? 

Dr. Fox >> Well, I wish I had the answer to that. That's the $64 million question. I'd be ready to retire 

with all the money I'd make over that. We don't really know. What we do know is a couple of things. 

Is that in this case, most of a majority of the flocks being affected are being affected directly from wild 

birds. We have much less farm-to-farm spread this time than we did in 2015. So that's a good thing. 

That means that our biosecurity is working, but what we don't understand is why so many birds are 

carrying it such long distances and for such a long period of time. So we did know previous to us having 

this outbreak that Europe had it ongoing for several years and we were afraid it was going to hit us in 

the last several years. And so far, it's been a year. So, we don't know why this one is so much worse. 

But what we do know is some of our activities, meaning biosecurity are keeping it much better than it 

could be because we're getting from the wild birds we want to be careful not tracking that in as Dr. 

Baldwin has talked about. But at the same time we're doing a better job of not transmitting it between 

different flocks within our industry. So we hope that in the coming spring, maybe it decreases, 

unfortunately as mentioned spring is the time of year where it usually increases and over time we hope 

that the birds themselves have a higher resistance to it and don't transmit it as much. But so far that's 

all we can say. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

Dr. Fox and Dr. Baldwin, I think I'll put this question to both of you and I'll let you jump in as you see fit. 

As you can imagine, we're getting a lot of questions about vaccines. 

Is there a vaccine being worked on? How come there isn't one? What birds would be, would it be safe 

for? 

So anything you can tell us about the status of vaccines that to protect our flocks from HPAI would be 

greatly appreciated. 

Moderator >> Dr. Fox did you want to take that one first? 

Dr. Fox >> Sure. I was about to say nationally we do have a group together that is looking at possibility 

of vaccination. Right now, there are several issues with vaccination that we're trying to work through. 

One of being that we don't have a licensed vaccine yet. They are being worked on. And just like your flu 

vaccines that you have to get every single year, every different strain requires a different vaccine. It's 

not like we could have stockpiled vaccine from 2015 had it ready to go for this outbreak. The vaccine 

has to be made as the strain shows itself. Not unlike the COVID vaccines and the avian influenza 

vaccines that you get. The other difference is we have to be able to tell the difference between 

vaccinated and unvaccinated that's a DVA strategy. Some vaccines that's very easy to do. Other 

vaccines it's more difficult to do. We need to look at a vaccine candidate where we can tell the 

difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated animals and we need to look at the expense of 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

vaccines whether it's worth it from a business point for the poultry industry to utilize them or get one 

that's used in backyard collections zoo collections but not used in commercial poultry industry based 

on trade and all sorts of other things. That's not the primary issue that we're having. The biggest one is 

what we all talked about. The virus itself is being spread more from wild birds coming in and their 

droppings getting tracked in than it is from bird to bird to bird. So, if we vaccinated some flocks, they 

would be protected from the wild bird but you're not going to have a protection between the flocks of 

vaccinated flock versus unvaccinated flock. That's not how it's transmitted. You have a drop of 

vaccination, you'd have to continuously have to vaccinate over and over for long lived birds like you 

egg layers and your turkeys that would become one of the situations where it's not possible to do it. 

You can't deal, give an injection to, say, 2 million birds in any period of time that would be reasonable 

rationale or doable. So we do have groups that are working on this and it is being discussed all the way 

up to the president's office. So, we are looking at it. But we want to make sure we do it properly. We 

want to make sure we do it so that we're helping out the industry and not hurting the industry and 

helping out backyard flock owners and zoo collections and things like that and not harming them. I 

hope that helps with some of the answers. 

Moderator >> Yes, Dr. Fox. Dr. Baldwin did you want to add to that. 

Dr. Baldwin >> I think Dr. Fox hit all the points. 

Moderator >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

We're seeing a lot of questions about how HPAI actually spread and Dr. Fox this might be another 

question for you. 

How can it be transmitted through the air? You know, how does it actually -- what's the mechanism 

from getting from wild birds to poultry, and then how long does the HPAI virus last in wild bird 

droppings and feces and saliva? 

So there's a lot of parts to that. But I think you understand the thrust of it, Dr. Fox. 

Dr. Fox >> All those are really good questions, and it goes back to why we recommend all the 

biosecurity measures we do. So, first of all, it is spread based on feces and secretions. So that would 

also include saliva and ocular secretions and things like that. But obviously the most common way is 

going to be through fecal contamination. So assuming that you have a Canadian goose and it drops its 

feces there, that feces then has to be introduced to your flock. So either by you tracking it into your 

barns, or other birds tracking it in. So then just like any other avian or any other flu virus that can be 

transmitted to that one chicken and it coughs, sneezes, or defecates and it's transferred to the flock. 

We're talking about secretions and talking about the fecal route being most common. 

The good news about all avian influenza viruses is that they're pretty easy to kill. So a disinfectant 

working on things like salmonella or COVID or whatever is going to kill influenza. It's not difficult to kill. 

Any disinfection washing with a detergent will do it. We have specialty things out there like Vircon, or 

a very mild bleach solution will work. It's very simple to kill. Between birds, once they become infected, 

they defecate an amazing amount of virus in a very short period of time which is why it will go from 

one bird to an entire barn full of turkeys in 24 to 48 hours that's the amount of virus they're putting 

out that's one of the reasons we want to depopulate those flocks as fast as possible because they're 

little virus machines. 

So once that virus hits the ground though, we like the tincture of time. So drying it out, very high heat, 

ultraviolet light, all those things out doors kills it very quickly in a moist environment it can last a long 

time. So we look at disinfecting our boots, disinfecting our tools things like that with something a little 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bit stronger especially if it's on the moist fecal material. But it's pretty easy to kill and the environment 

will handle it. And usually less than 14 days in a manure pile that is drying. We talk about the period of 

time for which birds may or may not transmit the virus. Usually the birds die, but if they live, they can 

transmit the virus, which is why some birds it may not show that they're ill also would need to be 

depopulated so they don't make all the other birds in our flock ill. I hope I covered most of that. 

Moderator >> Yes, Dr. Fox. 

We’ve been talking throughout this session about biosecurity. And I think this might be a good time to 

address some of the questions about best practices and how to implement biosecurity. 

And there's a question that's come in asking for recommendations for the proper ways to sterilize 

equipment and materials, tools, coming in from outside sources. 

Dr. Baldwin, would you mind answering that for us? 

Dr. Baldwin >> Yes, absolutely, Susan. 

So, there's really a number of ways that you can make sure that your equipment is clean. But a simple 

bleach solution is probably going to be the easiest. There's a lot of different solutions that can be 

applied that are effective against avian influenza, and Dr. Fox might know and Susan you might know if 

they're listed on the Defend the Flock website. I don't recall if the list of the upper grade disinfectants 

is listed but it's important to use something against avian influenza, something like a bleach solution 

and like Dr. Fox mentioned everything having enough time to dry out and no moist surface for the virus 

to live on is going to be appropriate. 

Moderator >> How about disinfecting vehicles during cold weather? 

We're here on the East Coast, first snowstorm. I'm sure this is top of mind for a lot of us on this side of 

the country. 

Dr. Baldwin >> Yes, it certainly is. And I can tackle a little bit of that see if Dr. Fox has anything to add. 

It's been a challenge out in Colorado since we've been hit by avian influenza. A lot of commercial we 

had five-degree weather to 40 below. And CND cleaning and disinfection had to happen throughout all 

phases of that regardless of what weather we were dealing with. So those larger facilities we ended up 

having to come up with different solutions with uses-on- using different agents that would try to try to 

keep the chemicals from freezing. Smarter facilities, just trying to keep something inside your barn or 

even in the house a pump sprayer with bleach solution to spray on tires around the undercarriage of 

vehicles would be appropriate. Keeping something in a warmer environment, taking it out as needed. 

And then putting it back where it's warm and not freezing is going to be ideal. And these winter 

conditions, it does get really challenging for C and D to happen. The very large commercial scale 

operations there's a lot of other operations that they can use to ensure that they have disinfectant 

that's working throughout all seasons. I don't know if Dr. Fox, you had anything to add on to that. 

Dr. Fox >> Not really. But the only thing I would mention when we're using any disinfectant make sure 

we clean it first, because those agents including bleach are inactivated by and it's important that we do 

both. 

Moderator >> Thank you Dr. Fox 

The next question we'll probably send back your way Dr. Fox 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any steps or protections that humans need to take if they come in contact or have birds in their flock 

that are infected with HPAI? 

Dr. Fox >> No, that's a good question. And certainly, it's a concern. We do want to make sure that we 

do protect ourselves from anything. Right now, we know that this virus is not affecting humans so far 

but viruses can mutate. We don't know if there's other viruses out there or what the animals actually 

have up to the point that we have some laboratory diagnostics back. So it's always better when you 

have sick or dead birds to certainly use gloves, wash your hands, making sure you're disinfecting your 

boots and things like that. If you're taking care of a flock that you know has highly pathogenic avian 

influenza, it's more of a situation of you moving it in between birds and maybe the different facilities 

on your farm. By accident than it is a direct risk to you or your family. 

So as I mentioned before, the virus that we're dealing with is different from the H1N1 that people have 

recently been hearing of recent cases over in Asia and we have much different cultural practices over 

here as well. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

We're seeing inquiries related to incubation eggs. 

Can HPAI be transferred or transmitted from incubated eggs? 

Dr. Fox >> In general, we say no. Basically, the process of incubation is a heat treatment. And it will kill 

any virus that's on the outside of the egg. And certainly if you've got virus on the inside of the egg, 

well, then that egg is not going to hatch. So incubation itself will take care of the virus on the outside of 

the egg. If you have a live chick on the other side of the egg you know you didn't have virus inside the 

egg, you're talking about balut or partially incubated eggs and eating them, that's different. You've got 

to make sure that you've got to proper amount of heat to make sure that the virus isn't activated 

inside the egg. So virus in the interior of an egg that came from an animal that was avian influenza 

infected, it's very small percentage of eggs will actually have the virus inside of them, but it's possible. 

That's what we talk about incubation. We don't worry about eggs once they've gone to an incubator. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Fox. 

I think we have time for probably one more question, maybe two. We'll see how it goes. 

But we're getting variations on the question of: 

Can birds recover from HPAI? 

Dr. Fox we'll give you the first swipe at this one. 

Dr. Fox >> Well, certainly the answer is yes. But so far we've seen very few so low pathogenic avian 

influenza birds will recover most often. Some mortality. But most of the time these birds are all dying. 

Unfortunately, when we have had mixed flocks and backyard flocks and they had a custom of chicken 

that were fixed too, we want to save these birds over here, they're not sick. Three or four days later 

those birds are sick too. So, it's possible. It's really uncommon for birds to survive domestic birds, 

poultry to survive this virus right now unfortunately. I don't know if Dr. Baldwin has seen anything else. 

Dr. Baldwin >> Thanks Dr. Fox to add on that we haven't seen anything differently. Susan I've scrolled 

through the questions as well. Just to give an overall picture, it does have a mortality rate more than 

90%. We really are seeing effective birds dying at a very high rate. There is no treatment. There is no 

vaccination. So, this is a viral disease. It's not something that can be treated with antibiotics, for 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

example, like bacterial infections can. So while we can see some flocks that may have been affected 

where all the birds don't die all at one time, we are still seeing really high mortality rates in these flocks 

with domestic poultry overall. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Baldwin. 

Dr. Baldwin, actually, thank you Dr. Fox as well. 

I think I'd like to end on one last question, thinking about our smaller flock owners, I know we talked 

about reporting sick birds, but if your veterinarian – 

Do you need to use a veterinarian who specializes in poultry, or in avian health? How can our 

webinar participants find specialists who might help figure out what's going on here? 

Perhaps Dr. Baldwin we'll let you start with that. 

Dr. Baldwin >> Absolutely. And I know that this has been a challenge for our bird owners and backyard 

owners, there's not a lot of veterinarians out there. But they're some beginning to see more and more 

backyard birds. So the demand is increasing, reach out to your local veterinarians and ask the question 

first. If you feel like your flock is sick and you don't have a veterinarian, you can contact us directly; it 

doesn't have to go through a veterinarian. You can contact the state veterinarian in your state or 

contact that USDA number I mentioned a few slides back. You can just contact the state or the USDA 

directly if your flock is sick, and they'll walk through the process of going through the diagnostic testing 

with you. So that might look like, if we have a private practice veterinarian it might look like we 

coordinate with your veterinarian on collecting those samples. If you don't we might send one of our 

veterinarians out to collect those samples or we might have you bring that sick bird or if you have a 

dead bird, bring it to the diagnostic laboratory. There's a lot of different ways to facilitate that, and it 

doesn't have to go through a private practicing veterinarian first. But I do courage everybody just for 

routine bird health it's important to have a good relationship with a private practicing veterinarian, 

because they're also really helpful in making sure we have the appropriate vaccinations, the 

appropriate treatments or internal and external parasites that birds may get to try and keep our flocks 

healthy from things other than high path avian influenza. So if you don't already have one, it's going to 

be important for you to hopefully try find one locally that can help you through that. Thanks, Susan. 

Moderator >> Thank you, Dr. Baldwin. 

And thank you, Dr. Fox, for sharing your knowledge, expertise and compassion. 

Now we will switch over to share with everyone resources that are available through the Defend the 

Flock campaign that contain information from growers, veterinarians, state agencies, scientists, and 

industry professionals. In the next slides, we’ll review resources that flock keepers can use as well as 

tools to educate others about best practices to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. 

APHIS Veterinary Services has developed a library of checklists that provide practical tips and 

recommendations. 

I think Dr. Baldwin was talking about disinfecting solutions and it's definitely detailed in the checklist on 

cleaning and disinfecting poultry enclosers in the test with regard to vehicle's. We encourage you to 

visit the and download these materials. All the checklists are available in multiple languages, including 

Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog and this year, we’ve added checklists in Hmong and Arabic. 

On the website you’ll find lots of other free tools -- including videos, recordings of prior webinars, info 

cards, newsletters, posters, and other resources. Tomorrow APHIS will officially launch their 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Biosecurity Workbook,” a planning tool to aid poultry owners create a biosecurity plan to help protect 

and care for their birds throughout the year. I think we can all agree that our youth are the future of 

our nation’s poultry farming and industry. We encourage and prepare all poultry owners – including 

future and aspiring growers – to be diligent about biosecurity and become a Flock Defender. 

So all of us here on our team are very pleased to announce that this week APHIS is launching the new 

Flock Defender Youth Program. The program includes an interactive game and fun activities for all ages 

such as word searches, crossword puzzles, and coloring pages. There’s also a Biosecurity Education Kit 

for educators and youth group leaders. The complete Flock Defender kit is available on the APHIS 

website. APHIS has also created digital content to help promote biosecurity. 

Infographics covering many best practices are available in English and Spanish. We hope you will share 

these with colleagues and fellow poultry keepers by email, text, or on social media to make sure 

everyone is using biosecurity every day, every time -- no matter how many birds are in the flock. 

And finally -- well, we hope you will Follow Defend the Flock on Facebook. You'll be able to be notified 

when this presentation and the Q&A are available and lots more useful information. This presentation, 

along with answers to the questions we were unable to get to today, will be available for download 

from the Defend the Flock website shortly along with this presentation. 

Finally, before we sign off, on behalf of APHIS and all of the flock keepers here today, thank you, Dr. 

Fox and Dr. Baldwin for sharing your valuable insights and knowledge with us. We appreciate all that 

you both are doing to keep our birds safe. And thanks to all of you for joining us on this webinar. 

Let’s keep our flocks healthy Together. 

Dr. Baldwin >> Thanks so much, Susan. 

Dr. Fox >> Thank you.